What’s one piece of great advice you’ve read recently? Or what’s the best bit of wisdom you’ve ever received?

“Always follow your dreams” – a message I saw on a billboard the other day while going down the notorious 1-94 in Michigan. Dreams are there to act upon. If you don’t wake up and start doing something about them, they will never come true. The dreamer is a hopeless soul; the doer is the one with most success in life. Dreamers believe but never achieve; Doers believe and go right ahead getting done what needs to be done. They don’t worry about the results – they learn to look at the bigger picture and see what they can do better.

If you ask some of the greatest chefs in the world what they did to get to their level of mastery in the culinary world, they would say they had to start right at the bottom and work their way to the top. They would say they didn’t have a shortage of days where they just failed miserable and were critiqued badly, and where they kept hearing about the famous chefs above them opening 5-star restaurants and wondering if they were silly for thinking they could possibly do the same thing. But they kept fighting and kept their head above water, continuing to learn and grow and eventually get to their current spot in life

I want to be a doer but the dreamer side of me is still quite fascinated by the mythical thing known as success. A couple of times I’ve tried to act out these dreams of mine only to realize the tough reality: achieving them takes so much effort and a lot of luck. Much of achieving your dreams requires actually having other people around you to help, to collaborate and pitch in their own creative ideas. But when your people skills are not very good, going it alone always feels like the best choice, even if it would be extremely hard to achieve what you want to do.

My piece of advice, based on my previous experiences, is to not let the negativity get to you. Shut out the voices that say you’re not good enough or not talented enough for your dream profession, whatever it is. Most of all, block out the haters that try to destroy your confidence and keep you from continuing on your path. Or leverage all of the negative talk and use it to make yourself the best ever. The grass is always greener on the other side – look to the alternatives to see what could be better.

Aerosmith tells us to “Dream on…dream until your dreams come true” but the song should really be “Wake up…wake up and make your make your dreams come true”. Your dreams are hopeless without a plan set in motion. Like building a skyscraper, it always starts with a solid foundation.

If you’re like most of us, you need to earn money by working for a living. Describe your ultimate job. If you’re in your dream job, tell us all about it — what is it that you love? What fulfills you? If you’re not in your dream job, describe for us what your ultimate job would be.

My ultimate job would be making videos on YouTube and earning money off of them, enough to make a good living. I have been making videos for sometime now (since 2009 when I was in my senior year) but have never made any significant amount of cash, about a dollar most likely, and have never gotten into any sort of rhythm, It has always been a passion of mine but I never really harnessed it. The thrill of putting a video together in my editing software (currently Corel VideoStudio X8) is intoxicating. I get into a creative zone and end up blocking everything and everyone else out. There are always new ideas for me to explore, even if previous ones did nothing with my viewers. My skills keep on improving each time. Before I started this blog, I was really into making videos but now that this is a priority, I can’t spend too much time on them.

YouTube just turned 11 years old yesterday and the site just keep on growing exponentially. There’s no telling where it will be in the next four years, when the 15th anniversary is held, but I boldly predict that it will be on the level of television eventually. I don’t always watch videos on YouTube but when I do…I end up spending an entire night going on an epic video journey (he is the Most Interesting Man In the World).

I’m not saying this will likely be all I do for a living because I’d definitely need another job to make enough money. I currently give plasma two times a week now, a tedious and annoying process, and being able to find something to replace it would be great.

Writing is definitely a passion of mine as well and I would love to get a full time job on some website writing articles, whatever topic they may be about. Writing (and reading) has a way of making me feel rather comfortable and content. It is a way to unwind from an eventful day or when I am stressed out. If I could somehow earn money from blogging (an even more difficult task than YouTube I suspect), I would really harness its full potential.

That quote I provided by Steve Jobs sums up my passion fairly well. I don’t want to spend my whole life trying to figure out what I want to be doing, wasting my time on something that is full of fruitless efforts. If Option A doesn’t pan out, then it be best to move to Option B, and perhaps C.

Like this:

“Yes: I am a dreamer. For a dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world.”
― Oscar Wilde, The Critic as Artist

Shucks, I can’t remember what it was I thought about before waking up this on this plain Jane morning. I know I was dreaming about something, but I can’t remember what exactly the dream was about; it was very vivid and deep, I must say, and I didn’t want to wake up just yet because of the story getting really dark and gritty but it started to fade as my morning mind took over, along with my uncle reminding me it was a plasma day. I vaguely remember the dream having something to do with the Pokerap that has been stuck in my head all day, after I featured it in my Throwback Thursday post yesterday, or all the entertaining YouTube videos I ended up watching after the original video was over, all within my blog. It started with Vsauce, a really entertaining channel of science, facts, and humor, and then trailed off into “the guy of a kajillion voices” and some 107 random facts about popular cartoons.

Of course, I thought of my blog, like on most days, contemplating what the Daily Prompt assignment is going to be about, wondering if I’ll finally publish a post around the same time that the “core” of super bloggers do (not today either). I’m talking about the bloggers I frequently see publishing posts in the morning to early afternoon; one of those I’m following is nearly always first because of his typical short witty responses. I’m always late to the party, choosing my own time. It’s this resentment, as well as my tiredness, to following along with this daily “sheep fest” that has me riding off the rails and wanting to do my own thing, for better or worse.

Explaining the title, one of the more humorous and strange things to happen today was my dad wearing a black masquerade “Batman” mask while driving down the highway on the way to the second of our weekly plasma donations, to a couple of concerned stares. He wore the mask into the plasma center as well, trying to seek attention but which wasn’t happening, to his disappointment and sulking later on. The screening booth attendant told him to take it off and he complained. Seriously, what were you thinking? He was the only one wearing a mask, looking rather silly. It’s not even Halloween yet – don’t embarrass yourself.

Speaking of Halloween and masks, my costume this year will be a hasty redo of a previous year’s edition. I’ll likely don my Darth Vader mask again along with a black t-shirt, pants, and shoes – minus the plastic lightsaber, that would be too much – and head off to the “haunted” Halloween party just around the corner in the community clubhouse. I’m hoping I’m not the only 20-something there amidst a bunch of children, which I very much doubt, but will still enjoy myself with donuts, cider, and the many cliches of Halloween strung and laid all around.

Do you keep a notebook next to your bed? Good. Today, jot down the first thought you have upon waking, whether or not it’s coherent.

I used to keep a notebook next to my bed, when I was jotting down my dreams, but I got tired of that and lost interest. So, sorry to disappoint you, WordPress monkeys. Maybe next time you’ll have luck making a “good” assumption about me.

Recently, I’ve been thinking about writing a post about things I would like to accomplish in life before it expires someday. It has come to my attention that there is so much I have never done yet, so much of this world to explore for me. I have created a rough, pending bucket list of the different sights, sounds, and activities I wish to witness. Some are within my grasp, while some might require some blood, sweat, and tears (and money) to complete. Hopefully I’m not about to kick the actual bucket like Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson when these come into play.

My dream list, in no particular order:

Buy a new camera, preferably a Nikon or Canon, the professional photographers choice.

Learn a new language

Fly in an airplane – and then skydive out of one

Learn to juggle

Pet an alligator (with its mouth unrestrained)

Go to California

Visit Washington D.C., walk by the White House gate

Go to Paris, get a perspective shot of the Eiffel Tower

Spot the Google Streetcar on one of its rounds

Get front row tickets to a concert of my favorite band

Write a letter to the President of the United States

Visit Mount Rushmore, Mount Everest, and Mount St. Helens

Have at least one video on YouTube that gets over 1,000,000 views

Win the lottery

Visit all 50 states

Visit all the Canadian providences

Win the PCH “Money for Life” sweepstakes (better than winning the lottery)

Start my own business

Photograph a tornado

Photograph a lightning bolt

Sip champagne in a limo

Read the entire Bible

Be in Times Square on New Years Eve (I fibbed about this on Facebook once)

Go scuba diving

Visit Africa

Accomplish most of this bucket list, or just laugh out loud at its absurdity

Most of these were thought off the top of my head, while some were inspired by ones featured on bucketlist.org. I may be crazy to think all, if any, of these will be possible, but it’s better to dream big than to not dream at all. I believe the thing to creating a bucket list is to fantasize enough but keep realism in check, going with ideas in your head that you know are the most sensible. Probably the most important one on here is winning the lottery, followed closely by Times Square, visiting all 50 states, and skydiving.

Feel free to comment if you have something worth discussing on your personal bucket list.

I don’t have a lot of nightmares. Lots of unusual, incomprehensible dreams but not nightmares where I could actually feel a sense of dread. There’s just not enough nightmare fuel for anything creepy to popup or it might be that I’m quite immune to these things. Not even Five Nights At Freddy’s could turn my slumber hours into an REM horror.

I think the last real nightmare I had consisted of my dad lying on a raft sinking into a dark swamp and being quickly covered in a bunch of rats (weird, I know). The worst part is when I simply walked ahead onto solid land just before a spooky forest of trees, looked back at my dad being swallowed by the swamp, and muttered, “He wasn’t worth it anyway.” He was lying face up on the makeshift raft in a way akin to one lying in their deathbed. I could sense a sort of sadness and despair, could slightly hear an eerie orchestra playing as a deep regrettable sorrow washed over me. I would miss him, but at the same time was glad to see him go.

I think this nightmare may stem from the fact that I haven’t always seen eye to eye with my father. He’s always tried to control my life, program me into doing everything his way but I’ve always had a free-spirited, independent mind to not be swayed the way his father did to him. I guess because there was a long stretch in my life where I only saw him maybe two times a week that I sort of drifted apart, became my own person instead of a chip off the old block, like they always say. I see him a lot more today than the times just after the divorce and he tends to want to help me with life, but there’s still this gap between us, this valley of differences; he’s living as he did maybe twenty years ago with the same haircut, clothes, and dry sense of humor while I’ve been a little more varied in my looks and tastes in just about everything.

I remember a version of this prompt being used a few months ago, my response to it being an assortment of dreams I had in the past and blended into a twisting story of fear and the supernatural.

I tend to dream
About many things in general,
From past schoolmates to teachers,
To the first time I played Nintendo
They are usually short lapses and happen in a flash,
Like the one time I dreamed of having Jimmy Kimmel teach class
Sometimes it’s nightmares and other crazy stuff,
As when my father was on a raft and rats were eating him up
I’ve been sent to scary castles and tested the waters,
Even got a job at Tuxler’s and saw my five future daughters
There was the gothic girl in the locker,
And a bloody sliced throat,
Me riding my bike,
And some reptile on a boat
I sat down with Kimye at a table one day,
And a guy was wearing a watch and someone said, “Are you gay?”
Ran through the store, hip-hopped through cement,
Had a gun pointed at me and used a toy to defend
I don’t know why I dream
These deliriously daffy dreams,
But it seems as if they come about
In response to not just one thing
And as the TV went missing,
And creepy Karl Childers came abrupt (mmm…taters),
I realized dreams are
Quite messed up